Existence of periodic solutions of ordinary differential equations (Q641597)

The author studies the existence of \(T\)-periodic solutions of the differential equation \[ {dy\over dt}= f(y,t),\quad t\in\mathbb R, \] where \(f:D\times\mathbb R\to \mathbb R^\ell\), \(D\subset \mathbb R^\ell\) open, under fairly week assumptions on the right-hand side. It is known that \(T\)-periodicity (in t) and continuity of \(f\) do not suffice for the existence of \(T\)-periodic solutions. It is shown that if in addition there exists a star-shaped compact set that is invariant under the Euler iterates of the equation, then there exists a periodic classical solution of this problem. As an application the existence of periodic solutions of the Solow equation and the forced nonlinear dissipative pendulum is shown.